Nothing Is Better Than Real Life

This was a hot day in June in 2018. It was a usual day for us. We were in the garden and as you may or may not know, when you have dirt, a garden hose and five children that means one thing – mud. At one point in our day we were surrounding the hole in which the mud making started and someone, I can not remember who, dropped a big rock into the puddle splashing myself and my camera. I remember shutting my eyes and taking a deep breath as they all looked at me in silence, unsure of how I might react. I remember telling myself, there isn’t any harm in a little bit of mud. So I checked that my camera was okay, then reached down into the squishy mud, grabbed a handful and flung it at my eldest daughters exposed tummy. An eruption of laughter followed as everyone joined in splashing and playing. Popsicles followed, the only logical snack on a warm, messy day. This particular photo was taken when I handed my eldest, eight years old at the time, the camera, hands wiped clean, and asked her to take a photo of Monty, having his snack. She snapped many photos, this one included.

Birth

I photographed my first birth in 2013 and was immediately hooked. Needless to say, when one of my little brothers and his wife asked if I would capture their third child’s arrival, I was thrilled.

I think when most people think of birth photography, they think of “the money shot” – A babe, only seconds old, being reached for by their mother, overwhelming emotion on the faces of all. While these moments immediately surrounding delivery are certainly important, those moments are only a small part of birth. Birth is a journey full of joy, anticipation, pain, fatigue, excitement and rest. It is truly an experience like no other. I remember many moments from my nephew’s journey earthside. It was the wee hours of the morning. Shelby, my sister-in-law, had recently climbed into the pool after labouring while moving between their kitchen and living room. Between contractions, she would recline against the edge of the pool and Dustin, perched on a stuffed cow, would lay his head down and rest. In this space between contractions, the house was quiet. Peaceful. In their home, bathed in light from the kitchen, and surrounded by the jumble of life with two young children who slept just down the hall. Contraction, breathe, comfort, peak, breathe, subside, rest. This is not a side of birth that is portrayed in our society’s media. And it’s a shame, because there is so much beauty to be shared.

You can see your Top Nine images from the year on Instagram and I really love it. It’s interesting, as a photographer, to see an entire year’s worth of sharing condensed down to what our followers loved the most. So here are our Top Nine of 2018. The thing that strikes me the most when I look at this little grid is, first of all, that every single one of these images is from personal projects. And secondly, our followers really dig motherhood.

Both Jenna and I have always shot a lot personally. After all, that’s how we got our start. We get asked often by various humans how to improve their photography. First and foremost…shoot a lot. Practice really does make for improvement. Both of us went for period of years where we shot every single day. Now with both of my kids in school full time, it doesn’t happen every single day anymore. It has been really fun – and challenging – to branch out into other personal projects. Over 2018, we made fitting in personal work a priority and it’s been amazing and something we’re super excited to continue through this year.

For 2019, we both plan to continue shooting our ragamuffins, just as we always have. We will also be carrying on our long term personal projects from 2018. I’m photographing women’s experiences during their first six weeks postpartum. (You can see two photographs from this project in our top nine grid – top left and middle left). If you’re expecting and would like to participate please shoot me an email! Jen is photographing a family’s journey as their young son battles cancer.

In addition to this, we had a meeting last week and have set our date for A Mother’s Beauty 2019! This is our longest running personal project to date and we look forward to it each and every year, because we’re both with all of you on this one, we really dig motherhood. We won’t be releasing the date until spring, but if you’re interested in joining us this year, definitely stay tuned. The day we open applications will be shared here on our blog as well as on both Facebook and Instagram. We can’t imagine our summers without having this on our calendar. It’s no surprise to see that six of our top nine favourite images are from this project. We’ve always said we will never stop shooting this. I have a picture in my head, clear as a bell, of the two of us in our eighties doing this work.

And finally, we are also continuing our mentorship with Kirsten Lewis, who is an incredible documentary family photographer, and just generally great human being. We know it will be another challenging year, but being pushed out of our comfort zones is so inspiring. In addition to monthly assignments, we also will be working on some projects for this, participating in roundtable discussions and listening to interviews. We’re excited to see how we grow and change! Our calendar is also filling up with incredible families, wedding couples and births. We’re both really looking forward to taking the skills we’ve already learned from our mentorship last year and any new ones we figure out and upping our game across the board. I don’t want to give away all our goals because it’s quite the list, but it’s going to be GREAT! If any of you would like to work with us this year, we would love to chat!